Jesse Williams Dishes to Andy Cohen About People Freaking Out Over His Full-Frontal Scene On Broadway
Jesse Williams spoke to Andy Cohen about the reactions to his nude Broadway scene — just one night before a leaked video went viral on Twitter.
“It’s a body, once you see it, you realize it’s whatever, it’s a boy!” Williams said on Monday’s edition of Watch What Happens Live. “I just have to make it not that big of a deal.”
Williams, who was nominated for a Tony Award Monday, is starring in the Broadway revival of Richard Greenberg’s play Take Me Out, which features a nude shower scene.
Although Williams seemed rather calm regarding his first nude live scene, Twitter had a different reaction to his body than predicted.
Video of a full-frontal nude scene from Williams’ performance leaked the same day the episode aired and ended up going viral, with Twitter users melting down over his … well … his penis.
While his nudity caused a bunch of noise online, Williams told Cohen that he has been met with silence in the theater.
“A non-reaction is a really interesting reaction,” Williams said. “The quiet, you know, creates a lot of insecurity.”
Williams went on to say that he doesn’t like any form of reaction to his nude scene, explaining that he tries not “to read into it because it just creates more insecurity.”
“How insane, though? This is your stage debut and you’re, like, fully naked. I mean, that’s doubly scary,” Cohen asked, prompting Williams to joke that he “won’t be scared of anything after this.”
At the end of the day though, Williams was firm on his stance that his body is a body, just like everyone else’s.
“On the other hand, isn’t it much better also when you feel better about your penis when you’re doing it?” Cohen responded.
“I would imagine so — I don’t, so I don’t know,” Williams added, later clarifying that he was kidding.
The nude leak also earned responses from the Second Stage Theater, the nonprofit producing the play, and the Actors’ Equity Association, which represents stage performers.
Both groups strongly condemned the leak, with Second Stage Theater saying, “we are appalled that this policy has been violated,” and clarifying that “taking naked pictures of anyone without their consent is highly objectionable and can have severe legal consequences.”
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the creation and distribution of photographs and videos of our members during a nude scene,” Kate Shindle, the union president, also said in a statement.
“As actors, we regularly agree to be vulnerable on stage in order to tell difficult and challenging stories. This does not mean that we agree to have those vulnerable moments widely shared by anyone who feels like sneaking a recording device into the theater.”
Wath above, via Watch What Happens Live.
